Open Prompt 12/4

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

            The more things change, the more they stay the same. The cyclical nature of time, and non linear narratives are a central device in American Indian literature, and particularly in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony. The novel jumps in its chronology constantly. Sometimes, a past even or memory will begin in the middle of a paragraph or sentence with no warning. Silko uses the non linear narrative and jumps between memories and time periods to show the cyclical nature of time and how the world repeats.

            After he returns from WWII, the main character Tayo is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and falls ill. The narrative constantly switches between his memories and his current life. An artifact or event will take him into the past, where another element may remind him of another memory, and he switches between memory and present day constantly. He is confused and disoriented by this, mistaking Japanese soldiers for his uncle thousands of miles away, or becoming ill at the sound of a crack, that reminds him of the sound his friend’s skull made when he died. Silko weaves time periods and memories together seamlessly and constantly, because everything is the same. A key point throughout the novel is that things repeat themselves, and time works in circles, not lines. By connecting the past and present, Silko shows the unitary nature of time.

            One of the underlying stories that creates the backbone of the story is that of Spider Woman, or Thought Woman, who creates the world by thinking it. The way that Silko creates the chronology of her story is not a line, or lines, it is a web. Everything is connected , and everything repeats. Completely separate events, like a sunrise and nuclear explosion, can be the same. By bending and shaping the way that time operates in her story, Silko shows the cyclical nature of the world and everything in it, emphasizing her motif throughout the story.